Sticking the Landing is not Everything
by brisingr 30
Summary: Summary: Ayroka a world class gymnast has lost her fire to win; her coaches think that Seigaku, and especially the tennis team has the power to instill that fire back into Ayroka. AU, and maybe a little romance.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Ayroka a world class gymnast has lost her fire to win; her coaches think that Seigaku, and especially the tennis team has the power to instill that fire back into Ayroka. AU, and maybe a little romance.

Chapter 1: Def not my cup of Tea

"And she sticks the landing! The 2009 gymnastics world all-around champion is Japan's Ayroka Katsumi" At fifteen Ayroka was already the best gymnast in the world. Since the age of three she had been training to be a gymnast. She had been putting her body through absolute hell for ten years, so that she could make it to the 2012 Olympics and already by 2009 she could feel her body starting to give way. Gymnastics just was no longer fun it was all about learning the next big trick so that she could stay ahead of the other elites, and she just no longer had the drive to win. Standing on top of the medal podium she couldn't manage to even try to smile all she felt was a heavy tired feeling that was pulling her down.

"We need to give Ayroka a reason to a reason to keep on wanting to succeed in gymnastics, It is very apparent that she has stopped loving gymnastics and it has become a chore to her." Ayroka's coach Aito a former Japanese gymnast who was almost like a second father to Ayroka was talking to the assistant coach Koichi on the plane ride back to Japan. "We can't allow Ayroka to lose the will to fight because once she does she will stop being the champion that we know that she can become."

"It is all very well and good to say that now but how will you give Ayroka back her fighting spirit? Once you lose your fight it is very hard to get it back." Koichi replied while scratching his head a nervous habit that he had developed while coaching the 2000 Olympic team to a bronze medal.

"See I got this idea because I was reading an article about a school that has a tennis team that is trying to become number 1 in Kanto tournament and it seems like they are full of fighting spirit. This gave me the idea that maybe if we sent Ayroka there the fighting spirit would rub off on her." Aito said it so fast that it took Koichi a moment to catch on but when he did he began to smile and nod his head.

"Brilliant idea just brilliant…wait but when do we tell Ayroka, you know how she is she hates to lose any training time. If she had her way then she would train all day." Furrowing his brow they descended into a silence. "We won't tell her why she is going we will just tell her that the Government is requiring her to go to a private school and we picked out one that we thought that she would enjoy." With a satisfied nod and smile Koichi closed his eyes.

"Koichi you know how much she hates children, and we both know that when she finds out that we essentially set her up in an environment that she would have to deal with children all the time she will beat the shit out of us. With a small shiver Koichi nodded and then put a finger over his mouth "that means that we will have to keep this our little secret now won't we."

Oblivious to everything that was happening around her Ayroka slept on not knowing how much her life would soon be changing.

**Double Twisting Yurchenko** Double Twisting Yurchenko** Double Twisting Yurchenko** Double Twisting Yurchenko** Double Twisting Yurchenko** Double Twisting Yurchenko****

The next day as Ayroka was finishing up her final rotation on the beam Koichi and Aito were mentally preparing their selves to break the news to her. As they were doing that Ayroka was staring down the length of the beam trying to prepare herself for her dismount, a daunting task especially when she was already very tired from a full day's work out and any misstep could have you end up in the hospital or even worse a morgue. Still she mentally prepared herself for the triple twisting layout and then propelled herself through the air. Spotting the ground she opened her arms just enough that she would be able to stop rotating just before she hit the ground. Landing just short she quickly took a small step forward but in general for a routine at the very end of the practice it was quite good.

After she had landed and began to put away her stuff stuff away Aito and Koichi walked up to her and whispered in her ear. There was a dead silence and then, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M GOING TO SCHOOL!" For most people a 4'10 girl would not be a very imposing figure but for the coaches Koichi and Aito they were scared out of their wits. An Irate Ayroka looked ready to strangle her two coaches. After a four hour practice the last thing that she needed was this kind of news. The reporters called her the little spit fire and this was exactly the reason why, with her black hair and light brown/ red highlights when angry she could scare the living daylights out of almost everything.

"Now calm down no need to shout, your drawing attention to yourself" Her coach Koichi tried to placate her while keeping a firm distance of at least two feet between them so that if she did decide to kick he could easily get out of harm's way.

"That's exactly why you told me in the gym so that I **couldn't** stick my foot up your ass! But mind you I will find a way so you better sleep with one eye open mister. You know how much I hate immature children, and to top it off how exactly do you expect me to train for Nationals when I will be at school from 8:30-3:30?" With a huff of frustration in the obvious lack of poor planning on her coaches' part, she shook her head and then decided to cut them some slack. "You know just this once" she held up a finger to emphasize her words "I will concede to your obviously stupid demands but if I don't have enough training time for Nationals it is on your heads. Oh on an afterthought I want it in writing that this was not my plan at all and that if this stupid plan of yours fails and I get out of shape that you will take all the blame." She stormed away to get a writing device to make a contract.

"You know I think we just got our way with one of the most stubborn gymnasts of all time, and she didn't try to take of our heads… OH MY GOD WHAT HAS THE WORLD COME TO THAT COACHES CAN CALMY SPEAK TO THEIR GYMN!..." Aito calmly smacked Koichi across the head. "Stop making a spectacle we can go and rejoice in the office with a bottle of champagne that neither of us had to be taken to the emergency room."


	2. Chapter 2

Summary: Ayroka a world class gymnast has lost her fire to win; her coaches think that Seigaku, and especially the tennis team has the power to instill that fire back into Ayroka. AU, and maybe a little romance. Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Prince of Tennis.

Chapter 2

Twisting through the air while trying to keep an eye on the ground is a hard task for most people but for Ayroka it came naturally. This made her the perfect subject for gymnastics. Having a good sense of where she was in the air made it possible for her to do the complicated maneuvers that she needed to do to be the best in the world. But at the moment she was feeling pretty out of her depth. Looking at the giant gates that hid her new school, Seigaku, sent a shiver of fear down her spine. Even when she had been competing in front of 20,000 people she had never felt this way and that really scared her.

"Come on Ayroka it's not that bad, look if after 2 months you really don't like it and your training is suffering we can pull you out." Koichi was taking her to her first day at Rikkaidai and he felt bad because she looked like she was petrified with fear.

"You're not sending me here because you want to get rid of me…right?" Looking up at Koichi her eyes began to glisten with unshed tears. She looked up to Koichi as a dad, and a mentor, and to think that he was abandoning her made her want to cry.

He dropped to one knee so that he could be on the same eye level. "No, God no, Ayroka what would make you think that, this, everything that I do is for your own good do you really think that I would abandon you the daughter that I never had?" He stood back up and ruffled her hair "now come on we have a school to enroll you in."

"I heard that we were getting a new student but I didn't realize that when they said a new student it meant Ayroka Katsumi. My daughter is a huge gymnastics fan. Do you think I can get an autograph?" Ayroka gave a small smile and reached out for the pen that the Vice Principal Mrs. Yakamura was holding and scrawled her name in the middle of a blank piece of paper. "You have no idea how excited she'll be, and how excited the students of this school will be when they learn that they are going to school with a world champion!"

"Wait if possible please don't tell them, all I want to do is to get through this school go to my classes and get by completely unseen."

Koichi tapped her on the shoulder "ahhhh actually see the one thing that I didn't mention when I was telling you about Seigaku is that they have a team here that needs a manager and I thought that you would fit the spot perfectly so I signed you up." He scratched his head nervously and gave an awkward grin to Ayroka. She shot him a hateful look but managed a smile because Mrs. Yakamura was sitting right there.

"Well great, I am obviously going to have to thank you later for your amazing insight now won't I?

"You know I think that this is my cue to leave, have a great first day! Oh and Mrs. Yakamura Ayroka will be coming in at twelve everyday because she has practice before that. Have Fun!" Koichi yelled while he was running out.

"I think he does these things just to annoy me. It's like somewhere in that twisted mind of his he thinks it's okay to put me through these things." Mrs. Yakamura chose to ignore the comment and instead opened the door and motioned her through.

As they were walking through the halls Mrs. Yakamura pointed out some of the classes that Ayroka would be taking and began asking if the classes would be sufficient for her. "At Seigaku we expect our students to excel at everything that they do obviously you already have the sports part down put if you drop below a B- average we will require you to get a tutor. Well here is your first class, if you have any trouble please come and find me." She opened the door and ushered her through. "Mrs. Sayaka here is the new student that the teachers were informed would be coming, I hope that all of you accept her with open arms." With that she closed the door.

There was an awkward pause where Mrs. Sayaka digested the news and then gave a bright smile to Ayroka, and motioned to her to step closer. "So Ayroka is there anything that you would like to share with us so that we can have an easier time getting to know you?"

"No not really, I think the most important facts are as follows, yes I am 4'10 and no I am not a midget, before coming here I was privately tutored, and last and most important fact is that I hate children if you are going to whine 24/7 then do it elsewhere because I do not have the time or the patience to listen to it." With a satisfied grin she walked to the back of the room and sat down trying very hard not to laugh at the incredulous looks on half of the classes faces.

"Well thank you for that wonderful presentation Ayroka I look forward to getting to know you better as the year progresses. Now let's get back to the lesson has anyone ever tried to stop suddenly when you were in a moving vehicle? Good now that feeling of your body not wanting to stop moving is the law of…" Ayroka tuned out she had already learned what she was talking about and did not care to learn it again. She had already realized that trying to be mad at the world just because she was in a situation that she didn't want to be in would not be advantageous to herself.

She went through all the motions of a regular new student asking directions when she became lost, introducing herself to the class, and eating by herself at lunch. Even though she had tried to look at being at Seigaku in a positive light she had no interest in creating bonds at Seigaku. Bonds in her opinion meant weakness and to be the best she could not have weakness.

At the end of the day when the bell rang signifying that it was time to go to clubs Ayroka reluctantly got up from her last class and dragged herself back to her locker so that she could put away her books and walk out to the tennis clubs. The locker that she had been assigned to was a top locker so every time that she tried to put anything in she had to stand on tippy toe, and even then she could barely reach anything in it. Everything about Seigaku was terrible in her opinion the people were loud, the food was terrible, and the lockers were too tall.

Approaching the tennis courts she could already hear the thwack of the rackets hitting the balls. During lunch since she had never watched a game of tennis before she had looked up some of the rules of the game. She was under the impression that even though she was not going to be playing tennis since she was managing she should probably learn some of the rules of the game. As she came up to the courts she was greeted with the members of the tennis club some who were stretching while others were having short rallies before practice officially started.

"Hey do you know where the coach of the tennis club is? I have to talk to her." Ayroka stopped by one of the tennis players who were stretching.

"You do know that this is the guys tennis club right? The girl's tennis club practices on the courts to the right."

"Thank you for your wonderful insight, and now can you please point in the direction of your coach?" In a very reluctant fashion he pointed over to the left where what looked like a shed was located.

"She is probably in their doing some book keeping; I wouldn't bother her if you're just a crazy fan girl who thinks she can somehow get on this team." He yelled at her retreating back. She didn't bother to turn around and give a sarcastic remark because she was just too tired.

Pushing open the door to the shed she was greeted with a pungent odor that smelled like a mix of sharpie pens and bad chicken. "Dear god what is that smell?" The two people in the shed looked up from the container on the desk. "Before you say anything, no I am not a crazy fan girl, my name is Ayroka Katsumi and I was sent here to manage the tennis club." She attempted to smile and stuck out a hand.

"Ahhhh I was expecting you, I'm hope that you were able to find the courts without too much trouble." She seemed to realize that the boy was still in the room with them at this point and turned back around to talk with him. "Inui I need you to leave because there a few things that I need to say to Ayroka here, oh and by the way if the juice is as good as you say it is then yes I will allow you to give it to the members." Ayroka watched the boy and the bad smelling drink leave the shed, with a look that was a mixture of horror and disgust. "So you will be our new manager, My name is Ryuzaki Sumire and I am very glad that you agreed to do this because we need a new manger since the old one graduated. As manager all you are required to do is to go to every match, and practice in case the team needs you to do something. The matches are usually on Saturday from around 12-5pm, if there are any problems please talk to me or the captain Tezuka."

"Ummm thank you is there anything that I can do today?" 2672354044

"Well because it is your first day and I actually wasn't expecting you until tomorrow I guess I will just introduce you to the club and then you can head home because we have pretty much everything covered." She lead her out to the courts where the guys where stretching and clapped her hands to get their attention. "I would like to introduce to you your new manager Ayroka Katsumi, she will be here to take care of all of your needs, and so if you have any concerns please go and talk to her before coming to me."

"Kawaiii, SO CUTE!" A body hit Ayroka and then proceeded to squeeze the life out of her. "You're like my own personal teddy bear, so cute and cuddly!" Ayroka could barely focus on the words that her attacker was saying since she was too busy focusing on trying to breathe.

"Eiji, you're choking our new manager, I don't think that is a very smart move." The oppressing force finally lifted and Ayroka was finally able to draw a breath of fresh air into her lungs. She turned around to see who her rescuer was and came face to chest with a guy who was staring at her with a concerned look on his face. "Hello my name is Shūichiro Oishi, and the one choking you was Kikumaru Eiji. Are you okay you turned blue for a little bit."

"Yeah I'm fine just my neck feels stiff" Rubbing her neck and then cracking her neck side to side. "Wow that feels so much better. Well I guess it is nice to meet you umm I think Ryuzaki sensei already explained pretty much everything, if I can get your names that would be good."

Starting from left to right they started to say their names when they reached the last nine members Ayroka paid extra attention because it was apparent that they were the most important and the best players on the team. They were the ones that she would be working with specifically. As they said their names if they had a title they said it after their name.

"Echizen Ryoma"

"Tezuka Kunimitsu, captain, the team is very happy that you decided take the job as manager we hope that you enjoy it."

"Fuji Shusuke"

"Oishi Shuichiro, co-captain"

"Kikumaru Eiji"

"Kawamura Takashi"

"Inui Sadaharu"

"Momoshiro Takeshi"

"Kaido Kaoru"

"Well as I said before I am happy that I can be your manager and I just have one request, that you don't bother me with incredibly idiotic things." She gave a small bow to the tennis players who were lined up and then turned to look at Ryuzaki sensei. Who gave her a smile and then motioned that she could go.

With a small sigh she let the air that she had not realized that she was keeping in, out and then muttered a small thank you and turned on her heel eager to finally leave school. From al the movies that she had watched the hardest part of school was the first day and now that was over and now she could get into the gym and get a good work out in.


	3. Chapter 3

Summary: Ayroka a world class gymnast has lost her fire to win; her coaches think that Seigaku, and especially the tennis team has the power to instill that fire back into Ayroka. AU, and maybe a little romance.

Chapter 3

At eight in the morning most people don't want people to bother them, especially the coaches that are just about to be putting you through complete hell. "Soooo, are you going to tell us about your first day or will we have to pull the information from you?" Koichi and Aito were trying to grill her for information on her first day, while Ayroka was pulling up her jet black hair; her light brown eyes began to squint out of annoyance. "Pretty please with a cherry on top tell us what you thought."

"No, stop bugging me and give me my workout for today." She pulled a chair over and started to work on her over splits. Warming up was one of the most vital parts of gymnastics because if you did not warm up then it was almost inevitable that you would pull or break something. When she was done with splits she began a light 30 minute jog around the gym to warm up her muscles.

When she was finally done warming up she returned to where her coaches were sitting. They handed her a list which contained what she would be doing today. As she looked over it she realized that today only consisted of one event; vault. Vault was the one event that didn't come as naturally as the others. It had to do mostly because she was so small and light that she was not able to get as good as a rebound off the table as others, but where many would have given up this just forced her to work harder.

They did basic drills like running with a tire behind her to work on speed and strength, and jumping into a handstand and trying to bounce. Finally after doing drills like these for about 2 hours. The coaches motioned for her to come over.

"Ayroka we know that you have a double twisting Yurchenko under your belt, but we have been discussing for a while now whether it would be beneficial to you if you started to train an Amanar (2 ½ twisting vault). We have been looking at some of your biggest competitors and they either already have Amanars or are training them. As well as beginning to learn the Amanar we think some new skills on the other events will help you in the event finals at major events. If you can put a double layout in your floor in addition to your double twisting double back that would up your start level to a 6.7. If you added a new harder dismount to your bars routine your start value would go up to a 7.1. And last but not least we think that you could add a full twist to your layout series on beam. These additions might seem very challenging at first but we believe that you have the ability to do them."

There was a moment of silence as Ayroka though it over "that sounds nice and everything but both of you know that even though I am going into school at 12 and practicing before that. I won't have as much time as I used to. How do you expect me to learn and master all of these new skills?"

"Well we obviously don't believe that you can master all of the skills by your next competition, this is just a long term goal looking ahead to next year's worlds. The Russians, Americans, and Romanians have some really good gymnasts and to beat them will be a challenge but not impossible. We have faith in you Ayroka, we wouldn't tell you to try the new skills if we thought that you could not succeed." After a moment of silence he continued on "Well I think that we have had enough chit chat for today it's time to get back to work." They both stood up from where they were kneeling and motioned her to get up. "Ayroka start with some warm up vaults and then we can work on getting more height on the double?"

With a small nod Ayroka jogged over to the end of the runway, looking down she found the mark that signified where she should start. Taking a deep breath she charged down the runway doing a round off unto the board and flipped two times straight in the air. She didn't add any twists because the whole point of doing warm up vaults was to get her body ready to do her actual vaults. She quickly did a second warm up vault and then went back to the end of the runway to start working on her real vaults.

Before she stared her first vault Aito who was standing at the landing mat yelled to her that he would be spotting her of the block and in the air. She nodded her head and closed her eyes to visualize the vault, and then she began to run. When she hit the block she could feel the impact in her shoulders and then all of a sudden the weight was gone and she was flying. In the air everything felt perfect she was twisting at a good speed not too fast and not too slow, but when she spotted the ground she realized that she was too under rotated. She braced for the impact that was sure to come but then she felt her wrist being grabbed and pulled and suddenly instead of landing short and still twisting she was able to land correctly albeit a little to the side but at least she wasn't permanently hurt. "Ouch, thanks for helping me but now my wrist feel permanently bruised."

"Well I would say it's better than having a tearing something in your knee, your block was too high on the horse and so you did not get the greatest push." He stopped looking at her wrist and looked at his watch. "Let's stop practice now its 11:30 and you need to get to school by 12. When you're finished changing I will drive you there."

The drive to school was quiet since Ayroka was trying to finish off some English homework that she had forgotten to do. The silence was broken when Aito cleared his throat. "Ayroka if things get to tough between school and practice you know you can tell us right?"

"Yeah I know, I guess I was just giving you guys a hard time because I was afraid to try something new. I've seen the movies about high school and how if you're not part of a clique then you are ostracized and I didn't want that to happen to me. I know I have only been there for a day, but so far nothing like that has occurred." She gave a smile to Aito. "Thanks for worrying about me I appreciate it."

As they pulled up in front of the gates she leant over and gave him a hug. "Can you pick me up at around 6 because that is when tennis practice ends?"

"Sure, now go and have a good day."

As Aito pulled off Ayroka couldn't help but let a smile flash across her face, her mind was already set that she was going to enjoy school no matter what.

She was in shock when you tried to have fun in school the day seemed to fly by, already she had finished 3 out of her 5 classes and it was time for lunch. Lunch though was a different story, looking around at the many tables she realized that lunch was different, at lunch you actually needed friends to sit with. She was jolted out of her musings when she heard her name being called.

"Ayroka! Ayroka! Over here, come sit with us!" She looked around for the noise and found Eiji standing on top of his chair waving to her. Usually she would be very annoyed if a person was screaming her name loudly but at this instance the fact that they would care enough to call her over made her feel warm inside. Immediately after she sat down Eiji began to talk to her. "How is your second day here, have you met any friends?" The questions continued on until Tezuka held up a hand.

"Eiji if you are going to ask questions at least let Ayroka answer them."

She gave a little laugh "well I can certainly tell you that my second day has been a lot more fun than my first. Quick question do you guys always sit at this table, and is it okay if I sit with you?"

"Of course it's okay your our manager, and so even though you are not a regular you may still sit here." The boy sitting to her right who seemed to always have his eyes closed answered her.

"Thank you…ummm… this might be a little rude but what is your name again, I remember everyone else's I just can't remember yours?"

"Fuji Shusuke," He held out his hand and Ayroka shook it. He had a very strong grip, one that seemed to command her attention. She pulled her hand out of the handshake and looked down at her plate. She only had two things on it a small salad and water. It wasn't that she had an eating problem; it was just to be a world class gymnast she had to keep her intake at about 1200 calories a day. She noticed that Eiji was about to ask about her small lunch but Oishi shook his head; it would not be polite to ask.

"So Ayroka what do you do for fun, outside of school?" Out of the blue Ryoma (who she could have sworn was sleeping) raised his head and asked her.

"I usually like to go to the gym and workout." She mentally patted herself on the back she was able to avoid telling an outright lie without telling the full truth.

"Wait that's all you do for fun! It's obvious that we will have to take you out to do something fun because thinking that the gym is fun must not be healthy." Eiji mimed passing out from shock and Momo gave a horrified gasp. All of them were looking at her as if she was a two headed dog that had just spoken.

"It's really not that bad I'm good at it and I think it's relaxing." Ayroka tried to defend herself but the more that she spoke the worse they looked at her.

"I bet that's why you're so small because you are always working out; your growth has been stunted." Eiji cried out.

"Eiji, you can't say that, it's very rude. I apologize for Eiji he doesn't think when he talks." Oishi smacked him and then apologized.

"Its fine I think a lot of people feel that I am hurting myself and it's neither the first nor the last time that someone says that to me." Ayroka smiled and then finished up the last of her salad and stood up. "If you will excuse me I have to get ready for my next class. I had a lot of fun talking with all of you."

Once she left they all started to speak. Finally Tezuka raised his hand and the table fell silent. "She is now part of the tennis team because she is our manager and so just as we would protect and help one of our members we will help her. If she does need help, but from what I can see so far she seems like a very healthy girl who just did not have an appetite today." They nodded and agreed but were still shocked that someone could love working out to that extent.

Ayroka was able to get out of her last class earlier than everyone else because she told her teacher that she had to make sure that the tennis courts were set up. As she was walking to the courts she noticed a brick wall that reminded her of a beam and not being able to stop herself she climbed up and began to walk on it. She glanced around making sure that no one was there pulled up her hair and then did a free walk over into a back tuck. She gave a delighted laugh and then realized that she should be in the courts before people begin to arrive. She jumped off and then ran towards the courts, not noticing that from one of the second story classrooms she had caught one smiling Tensai's attention.

Fuji just happened to be looking out the window when he happened to catch sight of Ayroka, the skills that she did on top of the wall were in his opinion beautiful. He had never seen anyone look so comfortable and carefree on such a small surface and that intrigued him.

5 minutes after the last bell rang the courts began to fill with players who began to warm up. Watching them made her want to get back to the gym and practice every hour that she missed when someone else was practicing meant an hour where they were getting better and she was getting worse. She impatiently started to tap her fingers against her chair; thoughts of losing her next meet made her grit her teeth in frustration. She was so concentrated that she did not notice when Inui walked up to her.

"Ayroka the regulars will be doing a drill today where if they miss hitting a specific colored cone they will drink some of my inui juice. Just something that will make them motivated to try their best. If you can get the juice ready that would be great." She nodded and he walked away to get ready.

As she watched their practice, she was able see that they took their sport very seriously, just as seriously as she took gymnastics. Watching them practice made all the impatience fade away and she was filled with a sense of calmness. She found it interesting the way that different players were able to use different styles to get the same result. In gymnastics you never want to be too different or the judges would deduct points from you. As she watched the players began to falter in their returns and then began to miss. Once one of them would miss she would pour a glass for them and Inui would appear and hand it to them. With wide eyes she watched them cry or pass out. The last three regulars left in the drill were Tezuka, Fuji, and Ryoma. Ayroka watched them closely wondering which would fail first.

Ryoma was the first to fail out of the three when Inui cried out "THAT'S THE WRONG ONE" and second guessed himself. He took a sip grabbed his stomach and ran to the bathroom. Ayroka watched him run and then turned back to watch the final two. As she was watching she saw Fuji intentionally miss the ball and eagerly take the cup from Inui's hands. With wide eyes she saw him chug it back and then hand the cup back to Inui with a smile on his face. He then turned and walked to where she was sitting and sat down.

"Do you think Tezuka will finish or do you think he will have to drink Inui's juice?" Fuji asked Ayroka.

"Just from what I've seen today I think Tezuka has great focus and will be able to withstand the pressure but I think you could answer that question better than I could. What do you think?" Ayroka replied sparing a glance at Fuji.

"He can easily do this drill just as long as Inui does not do anything to horrendous, to take his focus away." An awkward silence followed that until Fuji interrupted it. "You know you're quite good."

"Sorry what did you say, I'm good at what?" Ayroka pulled her attention from Tezuka who only had one more minute.

"I saw you walking on the brick wall; you're really good you could join the circus with skills like that."

Ayroka gave a strained laugh, "maybe when I'm older I'll think about it but until then I'm all booked up with school and the gym." She had thought for a second that he had figured it out but who would suspect that the manager of a tennis team could be a world class gymnast.

"You know I wouldn't mind learning how to do the back somersault that you did if you get the chance do you think you could teach me?" Even though she still had not seen his eyes she could tell that he was looking at her in an imploring fashion.

"I don't know if I'll be the best teacher but I guess I can try to teach you during lunch. How does that sound?" She looked back to where the drills were going on and realized that everyone had already finished and was already cleaning the court.

"I'm sure that you will be a fine teacher. I look forward to my first lesson tomorrow." And he got up getting ready to go and talk with the other regulars.

"Maybe you can teach me how to play some tennis?" She didn't mean to blurt that out but just like word vomit it came out.

"Hmmm" he hummed happily, "sure if I can get out of class a little early we can have lessons before practice starts.

She sat there in a daze for a few seconds and then she realized that she had told Aito to pick her up at 6 and it was already around 5:50. Quickly picking up her things she stuffed them into her bag and then ran out to the parking lot. She sat on the curb waiting for Aito and began to reflect on the day. She couldn't help but smile because she had nine new friends, nine people who she could confide in and would actually like her for who she was and not because she was famous. As Aito's car pulled up she ran around it and gave him a humongous hug.

"Thank you sososo much, I think I just made nine new friends, and I get to learn tennis, and I sort of told them about the gym and…" Laughing he motioned for her to stop.

"Now slow down and tell me everything, start from the beginning."


	4. Chapter 4

Summary: Ayroka a world class gymnast has lost her fire to win; her coaches think that Seigaku, and especially the tennis team has the power to instill that fire back into Ayroka. AU, and maybe a little romance. I don't own any of the Prince of Tennis characters but I do own the OC characters. Have fun reading!

Chapter 4

Ayroka woke up in her apartment and couldn't help but smile, today was the first day that she would be learning tennis. She was amazed that she could be so excited about learning a sport that was not gymnastics. The whole time that she was getting ready for her morning practice her smile never wavered it just got bigger. Even on the bus amidst the disgusting smells she continued to smile.

When Koichi and Aito saw her walk into the gym with such a happy look on her face they immediately knew that either Seigaku was doing exactly what they hoped it would do, or she had finally decided to go through with her many threats of bodily pain. But the first option was more plausible Seigaku was finally giving her a life outside of gymnastics, and now she would not be solely focused on Gymnastics 24/7.

Practice that day started on floor running through her dance skills, she had just recently gotten new choreography and was still just a little bit rusty. Her floor routine was to the piece of music _Vivaldi's Summer_, a piece of music that she had loved since being a little girl. With the music though she had to bring a level of expressiveness that maybe if she was older she would be able to express but at fifteen she was not able to tap into her emotions as well.

She was going through the floor routine for a sixth time when during a grand jete she tripped and landed on her knees on the floor. "Ughhh… I can't do it, I can't make myself feel the music, the whole point of gymnastics is to cut yourself off from emotions; not to try to bloody feed into them." As she was sitting there looking at the floor she felt the floor compress as Koichi came and sat next to her.

There was a few seconds of silence and then "You know I think the maturity that you need for this floor music will come in time, just don't give up on it yet. You have all the moves just being able to feel what the music is telling you might be a little lacking but I can already see an improvement from two days ago and that is what we are looking for. I think that is enough of floor for today let's move onto beam for the last hour, and start working on the layout full twist."

Since it was her first day learning the new skill they began to work on the floor first. The combination on the beam that included the layout full was a back walk over, back handspring into the full. Since doing the layout full requires a ton of height and precision they were working on her entry and exit on the back handspring. She needed to be able to get enough power while still landing square on the beam so that she would not fall off. Beam in Ayroka's opinion was her second easiest event after bars although her coaches and most gymnastics fans would argue that she was best at the beam.

As she was working Koichi pointed out that she was slightly twisting into the back handspring, which was causing her to completely miss the white line that she was practicing on. As the hour went on she became even more impatient with herself, she began to perform even worse than before because she was not focusing as hard as before.

Finally Koichi just put his hand on her shoulder as she was getting ready to go again, "just stop for today, I think we've had a pretty productive practice and I think it's time to call it quits. I know that Aito said that he would drive you to Seigaku today but since I have some things to talk to you about I will take you."

Sitting in the lobby waiting for Koichi to finish talking to one of the younger gymnast's moms was boring but she didn't dare trying to interrupt since the last time that she did that the next day was absolute Hell. Five minutes later when he was done they walked out to the car and she began to mentally prepare herself for the news. "So what did you need to talk to me about, don't keep me in suspense forever!"

"Oh sorry, I spaced out for a second there. Aito and I have been talking about your meet schedule and I know that we already planned it out in the beginning of the year but we think that we should add a few small meets here and there so that you can get comfortable with your new skills before you have to do them in a big meet. So we are anticipating that you will have at least one of your new routines almost mastered in about a month." She opened her mouth to complain but he quickly cut in. "We don't want to add unneeded pressure we know that we have dropped a lot on your plate with school and a cutback on your workout schedule. If a routine isn't as ready by the time of the meet that is fine you can compete with the routines that you have now. How does that sound?" As he finished that sentence they pulled up to Seigaku.

"That's fine and Koichi I'm not some common gymnast I can easily get at least one skill by the time a month is done, I'm not going to slack even though I have less training time, I'm actually going to be even better than I would be with regular training times." She then gave a small wave, "Here I have to get to my first class but maybe we can talk later about the training schedule that you want me to follow so that I can master the skills." She waved as she was running into the building and then the doors swallowed her and Koichi could no longer see her.

She got into class just in time to hear the teacher ask for everyone to turn in their paper. She quickly pulled the 5 page paper out of her bag and turned it in with a quick apology for being tardy. As she took her seat the girl next to her leaned over. "Wow you got so lucky right there; usually Mr. Tan will make a really big deal if you are late. I'm Sayaka by the way, nice to meet you."

"Ayroka; Sayaka do you know why he didn't get angry?" Ayroka didn't know if it was preferential treatment or he just didn't care today. Sayaka gave a shrug "Hey I would just count my blessings and move on. You know since your new and all you should come and sit with me during lunch, my friends and I would love to hear about what you were doing before coming to Seigaku."

"Umm thanks for the offer I appreciate it but I already have plans during lunch, so maybe we can get together some other time?" As she was saying those words Sayaka leaned back and already looked uninterested.

"You know just because you are hanging out with the tennis team doesn't make you part of them, when they find you uninteresting they will set you aside and never talk to you again."

"You know I think that you have some misinformation, first of all I am the manager of the tennis team so technically I am part of the tennis team, and maybe you are jealous because you were ignored by them but that doesn't mean that you have to try to ruin my relationship with them." Ayroka turned her head away from Sayaka and tried to focus on her work without any more distractions.

When her last class before lunch finally ended she bolted out of the classroom and to her locker, she wanted to get her salad and eat it before she had to start teaching Fuji, because from experience she knew that trying to do a back flip on an empty or full stomach was not a good idea. She was the first to arrive at the regulars table as she sat there she realized that even though not openly she was being scrutinized.

The first to arrive was Kaido, when she said hello he hissed in reply and then took out his lunch and began to eat. She gave a quiet laugh to herself, Kaido reminded her of a friend that used to do gymnastics until she broke her leg and her parent realizing that it was a dangerous sport pulled her out. Ayroka remembered that day clearly because that was the day that she vowed that no matter what happened, she would never let herself be taken away from gymnastics. She had already lost so much in her life with her father being killed in a car accident when she was 1 and her mother giving her away to a foster home because she could no longer look at her without feeling sadness. She refused to let anything else slip from her hands.

When Fuji arrived since they had an hour and half lunch period he ate for about 15 minutes and then they threw away their lunches and began to head out. On the way Echizen who was just about to go up to the roof to go to sleep saw them and decided to go with them because in his mind watching Fuji try to do back flip was more interesting than anything else. They went outside onto a flat grassy area so that if he did land on his back it wouldn't hurt as much.

"So it's a good thing that you want to learn a back flip since it is a lot easier than a front flip. To start out stand on the ground and bend your knees, you then want to jump up and backwards while grabbing your knees so that you don't land on your head. For the first few times that you try until you feel comfortable I will spot you, does that sound good?"

"Ayroka do you think that you could go through the steps one more time and actually act them out because I am a little confused when you grab your legs." Nodding once she bent her knees and then swung her arms up and with that she pushed off and her body followed suit. Landing her arms automatically came up in a salute and then she quickly put them down.

"See nothing to it, just remember to really snap your legs, so that you don't end up hurting yourself, oh and don't panic I promise that I will not let you hurt yourself." Fuji nodded and then moved in front of where Ayroka was and bent his legs, and then jumped. As he jumped he tried to pull his legs through but already he could tell that he was coming straight down. And then suddenly there was a hand on his back that pushed him and gave him enough rotation so that he was able to land on his feet. He stumbled forward when he landed and then turned around gave Ayroka and Ryoma a big thumbs up.

"That was completely awesome. Let's try it again." This time he changed the way that he jumped and was able to make the flip without as much help from Ayroka as before. As Ryoma watched he became captivated with how Ayroka seemed to be able to know where to put her hands to help Fuji through the back flip.

"Ayroka where did you learn how to back flip so well, I mean you can do it on like a brick wall and I can barely do it on the ground." Fuji who had decided to take a break asked Ayroka the question that had been bugging him since yesterday.

"I guess I'm just a natural at these types of things, since a young age I have always loved doing flips. Hey Echizen would you like to try, I promise I won't let you get hurt."

"Sure I guess I can try." Echizen got up from his spot and reluctantly came over.

"Don't be scared, Echizen it's really fun and Ayroka won't let anything bad happen to you."

"I'm not scared I just don't have any interest in flipping all over the place." He walked over to the place where Fuji was. "I'm only doing this once." As Ayroka spotted he threw himself into the air and flipped. Ayroka did have to give him just a little more height but he was able to complete the flip without any other type of assistance.

They both continued to try to learn the back flip but after awhile it became apparent that they were making no real progress. "You know I think the reason why you're not getting better is because you are tired, if you want to meet again tomorrow then I think that you will have an easier time. Besides its almost time for the lunch period to end." Ryoma left almost immediately after she said that but Fuji stayed to help pick up some of the trash.

"I brought a racket for you to learn tennis with today, if you would still like to try." When Fuji said that Ayroka mentally punched herself, in her hurry to get out of her apartment and to practice she had completely forgotten about the tennis lesson.

"I would love to but I sort of forgot to bring sneakers today, do you think that I can play in these shoes?" The shoes that she had on had some support but they weren't as sturdy as regular running sneakers.

"Yes they should be okay for today since I will be teaching you how to swing the racket, so there's no real running going on except for the warm up." He gave a wave as he began to walk to the main building. "See you after school, if you can get there maybe 20 minutes early that will give us enough time to actually have a lesson!" He called over his shoulder.

Once he was of sight she lay on her back and looked up at the tree that she was sitting under, she had never been able to talk to someone like Fuji and she liked it, even though she was technically still not telling him the full truth. She felt like he understood the things that she was saying.

Her last two classes flew by since she was looking forward to her lesson with Fuji. Her teacher in European History her last class was able to let her out almost 20 minutes early since for the last quarter of class they were just doing that nights homework.

When she arrived at the courts and saw that Fuji was not there she decided to warm up by herself. She jogged a few times around the courts and was about to start stretching when she saw Fuji coming down the path with the rackets. She waved and saw his eyes crinkle in happiness.

"I brought you one of my old rackets," he handed it to her and then fixed the way that she was holding it "Since you already warmed up I want to start you on basic swings look at the way that I swing my racket. This swing is called a forehand and is usually the easiest shot for people to learn, give it a try." She continued to try the forehand with Fuji making corrections here and there. "Okay now swing it just like that 20 times. Tennis is all about muscle memory, if you can get your muscles to remember exactly how to do a forehand then you have won half the battle.

The thirty minutes that they had to practice flew by and it seemed to Ayroka like all of a sudden people were in the courts watching her swing and practicing themselves. As she began to get self conscious Fuji stopped her and told her that they would work on more tomorrow.

Even though watching the regulars and the other members practice yesterday was interesting today was even more so because she could semi relate to what they were doing. At the very end of practice the regulars who had a longer practice than everyone else began to rally amongst themselves. Oishi against Eiji, Tezuka against Fuji, Ryoma against Inui, and Momo against Kaido, Kawamura who had hurt his shoulder in a match before she became manager sat the rallies out. Even though the rallies were during practice all of them except for Fuji approached them as a very serious match. Ayroka could somehow tell that he was not playing seriously because of the way he smiled the whole time. Tezuka could tell that as well because half way through he stopped the match and said a few words to Fuji. Afterwards the match continued on but with a renewed sense of urgency.

As the last matches ended, the sky was already beginning to turn dark. Ayroka stifled a yawn and then began to help the regulars clean up the courts, and wipe down the equipment. By the time that everything was put up it was already 6:30. Because neither Koichi not Aito was coming to pick her up today and take her home she had to ride on public transportation, and even though it was relatively safe she did not enjoy it.

As she was walking to the bus stop she heard her name being called. "Hey Ayroka wait up, a bunch of us were going to go out to eat as a team bonding trip and we were wondering if you wanted to come with us?" Momo had run after her to catch up with her before she got too far away.

"Sure that sounds like fun. Do you have any idea of where we are going and about how long it will take?" Against her better judgment she had said yes, she had a really grueling practice schedule ahead of her getting ready for her different competitions and truly she should not go out, but she really wanted to have fun so she put caution to the wind for once and decided to go.

The food place that they ended up going to was a new fast food restaurant that Momo and Ryoma wanted to go to. While they were there Momo, Ryoma, and Kawamura (with a chopstick in hand) decided that they wanted to prove who was manlier by stuffing themselves with hamburgers. As she watched with wide eyes hamburger after hamburger was practically swallowed whole right before her. Just watching them eat gave her a stomach ache. As the night went on one fact about the tennis team became abundantly clear to her, just like their tennis each one of them was different; liking different things and activities but somehow they were able to bond over one common aspect in their lives and were stronger because of it.

As she was walking home from the bus stop where the bus dropped her off at her mind continued to drift back to gymnastics there was something bothering her, about her gymnastics. Somehow after watching Seigaku's tennis team and how much fun they were having while playing made her realize that the fun that she thought she was having, was not as pure as the fun that they had. Their fun made others want to join in where as hers just made her tired. Sudden realizations hit her as she was opening the door to her apartment if she even wanted to consider trying to make the 2012 Japanese Olympic team and try to win All around Gold she would have to change her approach to gymnastics. She would have to find her inner joy in the sport because without finding that she would not be able to last the next three years, and her dreams would die before she even had the chance to salute the judges.


	5. Chapter 5

Summary: Ayroka a world class gymnast has lost her fire to win; her coaches think that Seigaku, and especially the tennis team has the power to instill that fire back into Ayroka. AU, and maybe a little romance.

Chapter 5

The next day after Koichi told her about the meet coming up; when she went into the gym she had already mentally prepared herself for a grueling work out. But no matter how mentally tough she had tried to make herself there was nothing that could have prepared her for the arduous work out that she was subjected to. In the first 30 minutes after the warm up she was already ready to drop and take a nap, but she knew that she needed to continue to push herself because that was the only way that she would get better. She also knew that the workout probably wouldn't kill her but it sure would come pretty close. A hundred sit-ups and pushups later she collapsed to the floor her arms no longer being able to hold her weight and her stomach muscles screaming in protest.

"Come on Ayroka I know it's tough but you're doing great, only about an hour and a half more. And then you can go and rest." She pushed herself up and then dragged herself over to the uneven bars. Even though today was mostly a conditioning day she still had to work on the four apparatus's to keep in shape. She climbed up on to the low bar and then jumped onto the high bar and began doing giant swings around the high bar. Giant swings where were you would swing all the way around the bar with your arms and body completely straight. When you get into the groove of swinging around the bar there is a feeling of weightlessness. She spaced out a little as she was swinging around the bar but was brought back when she heard Aito telling her what to do.

"Now let's start working on your dismount. I want you to try to start to stick the double layouts because we don't want to lose valuable execution points." As she heard what Aito said she automatically began to prepare herself to go into the dismount; when she got to the very top of the high bar she allowed to swing two more times around generating enough power to propel herself into the air and make two rotations, while staying laid out. Spotting the ground and bringing her legs out to meet it was always a jarring experience but she loved the way that her body was able to absorb the impact.

On the first double layout she was able to almost stick it cold, but had to take a small hop forward at the very end because she was just a little bit under rotated. She listened to Aito and Koichi's advice on exactly how to kick before she let go of the bar and did it again this time with Koichi spotting underneath. As she was finishing her rotation she felt Koichi's hand push her back making her over rotate the double layout and stumble backwards instead of forwards landing on her butt. She continued to do the dismounts until she found her groove and began to stick almost all of the ones that she threw.

After working on the dismount of her bar routine she moved on to trying to perfect her handstand positions in her actual routine. She did a couple of complex spins on one arm on the top of the high bar and she always seemed to lose points because she never finished in perfect handstand. The strain on her shoulder from repeatedly being pulled out of its socket and twisted was great and very painful but she never complained because a without those complex skills her bar routine was just like everyone else. She stopped swinging for a second and rested on the high bar, her arms were burning and she was finding it very hard to focus because of this. She knew that in times like these it was imperative that she continued to practice because these were the times that she got better.

She started to swing again but then paused again when she had an idea that she remembered from watching Ryoma practice tennis and watching how he almost went into automatic. He seemed to be able to completely blank his mind and allow his body to work. As she started her swing again she tried to do the same thing, by focusing on everything and nothing at the same time. All of a sudden she heard a whoop, "You got closer than ever on almost fully competing your 1½ turn in handstand you were just about 15 degrees off when you finished." She gave a smile to herself as she did an empty giant she was improving not just in skills but also the way that she was approaching gymnastics.

The weeks leading up to the competition seemed to pass by in a monotonous blur of school gymnastics and tennis. The days leading up to the competition had Ayroka become more and more strung out. She tried to not let it show but her practices were becoming increasingly harder, and it was becoming tougher to balance school and gymnastics. She was constantly tired and had taken to falling asleep in classes, she was still keeping up an A average but her teachers were becoming increasingly frustrated with her. As well as the fact that her shoulders, and right knee was almost always constantly hurting her and so the little sleep that she did get was often plagued with bad dreams.

Both Ryoma and Fuji had mastered the back flip a few weeks ago but since they had spent so much time together they had become good friends and now hung out under the tree to eat lunch together and talk. "Ayroka we heard about how you fell asleep in Physics class and how Mrs. Sayaka threw an eraser at your head to wake you up. And we have noticed how tired you have been lately, but I think the final straw is how you've been eating lately. We know that you don't eat a lot normally but how you have been eating lately is very worrisome it's gotten to the point where it's actually quite serious." Fuji had begun today's lunch conversation by expressing his concern to Ayroka. He had come to care very deeply for his new found friend and he did not want to see her hurt herself just because she saw others that were a little bit skinnier than her. Fuji thought it was fine that Ayroka had muscles instead of just flabby muscles.

"I'm fine, guys you really worry way too much I've just been really busy lately at the gym and I haven't been getting a lot of sleep. And all of the regulars know that I don't like to eat a lot just lately with the lack of sleep I haven't been that hungry." She smiled at them and twirled the ponytail that she had in her hair. She hadn't bothered to take her hair out after her morning practice.

"We are really worried about you, no scratch that the whole tennis team is worried about you. We aren't idiots we can tell that you have gotten skinnier and you've been limping lately. If someone is picking was picking on you, you would tell us right? Ryoma usually the non talkative one had burst out talking he could no longer hold in his own apprehension and just like Fuji he had to express them. He turned around and looked at her and then using his golden brown cat eyes seemed to beg her for answers.

After his outburst they all sat there in silence and then Ayroka decided something on the fly. If she was going to have a healthy friendship with Fuji and Ryoma then she needed to be completely truthful with them. They had already proven that they liked her for who she was, she sat up and cleared her throat. "Ummm, Ryoma, Fuji, see I haven't been entirely truthful with you guys about what I do outside of school. I do like going to the gym but I don't go there to just workout necessarily I ummm how do I put this… I"

"Wait what do you mean, you haven't been entirely…" Ryoma wanted answers but not one that would make him doubt the friendship of one of his first two friends.

"Shhh let Ayroka explain Ryoma, besides its not polite to interrupt." She shot Fuji a grateful look but he quickly looked away and she could tell that he was hurt that she had not been telling the truth even though he did not know what she had not been telling the truth about.

"Well I don't exactly know how to say this so I guess I'll just come out and say it, I'm a gymnast…" She waited for the two to gasp or to say something but they just sat there.

After a long pregnant pause Fuji asked a question. "Well what is the big secret Ayroka?" Fuji who still hadn't said anything other than shush asked Ayroka.

"What do you mean what is the secret? That was the secret, and it's not really a secret just something that I didn't want to tell anyone because I don't want to be treated differently."

"What makes being a gymnast any different from being a tennis player or a volleyball player?" Ryoma was looking at her as though she had grown a new head. "We already knew you could do flips if you want to call yourself a gymnast then that's great. But that doesn't make you special… does it?" Ayroka could tell that she was not getting though to either of them, neither of them understood or was connecting the dots with what she just said.

She sighed and then pulled out her computer. "Here it's easier to just show you." She googled her name and watched the thousands of videos, pictures, and websites pop up about her. "I'm an elite gymnast, I've been doing gymnastics since I was three and I'm quite good at it." She let them look at the computer screen and flip through different articles.

"National Champion and now World Champion; wow Ayroka when you said that you were a gymnast you weren't kidding. I thought you meant that you did acrobatics not that you were like a professional athlete. So when we were bragging about wanting to become national champions were you just faking excitement." Ryoma was still doing all the talking as Fuji continued to look through the computer looking at different sites. She could tell that he was intently looking at something on the screen.

"Of course I wasn't faking excitement I think it's amazing that you guys are going for the national championships. Everything that I told you about myself was true I just left out some of the important facts." Fuji flipped the computer around and showed Ayroka and Ryoma what he had been looking at, which was her gold medal performance at the 2009 worlds. Ayroka could feel herself turning red from embarrassment; she did not enjoy watching her routines even though Koichi and Aito made her so that she could see and correct her mistakes.

"These moves that you are doing are amazing, if you are so good at the sport of gymnastics then why try to keep it under wraps?" Fuji finally decided to ask the question that had been on his mind since she had shown them the computer screen.

"I didn't want to be judged on my athletic abilities I wanted the people at Seigaku to like me for who I am. I really am sorry for not trusting all of you but I don't regret my actions because I now know who my real friends are, those people who like me for who I am." She offered them an apologetic smile, they both stared at her for a second and then Fuji broke out into a big smile.

"I think we both understand why you didn't want to tell us the truth and we understand, now let's move past this and talk about more important things like where we are going on Saturday, bowling alley or ice skating rink?" Ryoma asked.

"Uh yeah about that I won't be able to go since I have a competition that day and I am leaving a day earlier so that I can practice in the space and familiarize myself with the equipment. But you guys can come if you want. Competitions really aren't that interesting so I won't be offended if you don't want to come."

"Are you joking this is the first time that we'll see you doing all your gymnastic moves, and not just a back flip I know I'll be there, what about you Fuji?"

"Of course I wouldn't want to miss is for the world."

The smile that took over Ayroka's face was blinding. "I guess I should tell the rest of the tennis team as well, and ask if they would like to come." Both Fuji and Ryoma nodded and then Ryoma leaned over and gave her a hug.

"Both of us will be there for moral support, when you tell them."

By the end of the day almost everyone in the school knew that Ayroka was a world class gymnast. The news spread so fast that by the end of tennis practice there was already a gaggle of students waiting outside to ambush her and ask for her autograph or to be her friend. Luckily Tezuka had the presence of mind to order the regulars to look after Ayroka and help her to get through the day without being mauled.

The next morning before she even got out of bed she mentally visualized all of her routines. When she was ten she had started a pre competition routine where before Koichi picked her up from her apartment she would eat 2 grapes, a half of an egg and 7 slices of turkey. Ayroka had done this before every single competition and she could not even imagine what would happen if she did not.

The car ride to the competition was quiet as Ayroka was listening to her iPod and trying her hardest to stop the butterflies in her stomach. No matter how small the competition she was always nervous because in her mind it was imperative that she try her best.

When they arrived they had just enough time to check into the hotel and put down their bags and then they had to hurry to the arena where the competition was being held. When she walked in the press surrounded her asking numerous questions varying from how her training was going to what was her favorite food. Koichi put his arm around her and pushed their way through the crowd responding to all the questions as no comment.

After running through her routines on the equipment she decided after consulting with Koichi and Aito to stick with all of her old routines except for on the balance beam where she would add a triple spin instead of her usual double. She was sitting down on the edge of the floor getting ready to do a few tumbling passes when she noticed that her biggest competition was coming over to talk.

"Well Ayroka I heard that you were going soft, only practicing 4 hours a day, but I guess after watching podium training the rumors were false. Don't get me wrong I'm really quite glad that you haven't gone soft because I want to beat you when you're at your best so that there is no question about who is the best."

"Well it's nice to see you to Christina, and how have you been?" She put on her best fake smile to greet Christina the current number two gymnast in Japan. "I see that you still haven't changed the bar routine that you have been competing since junior years, an elite routine still too hard for you?" It was there routine to throw insults back and forth, it's not that they hated each other it was just that they had a fierce rivalry and there was no point in playing nice when all you wanted to do is beat the other person and come out on top.

"Ha you wish I can't wait to see your face when you see the routines that my coaches have come up with, they're going to make you wish that you were able to actually do skills like I will. Just wait till Worlds your title will soon have my name on it." Christina stalked off, and Ayroka couldn't help but chuckle to herself. No matter how serious that statement was she found it to be very melodramatic.

"Ayroka how do you feel with the equipment do you feel comfortable enough or do you want to do a few more routines?" Aito had walked over to check on her and her comfort level. He knew that even though she did not show it she was still just a little anxious.

"I think I'm pretty comfortable the bars are just a little bit bouncier than usual since their newer but other than that everything is good. Oh and Aito I think a couple of friends of mine from school might come and watch the competition tomorrow, do you think we can take them out to dinner tomorrow?"

Aito scratched his head and nodded, "If they are friends of yours then sure, just don't let them distract you from gymnastics, you know that when a gymnast becomes distracted bad things happen."

"Of course I won't become distracted; I'm an elite gymnast things like that doesn't distract me. It's just that I'm really excited and a little nervous because I've never had friends or family members come and watch me." She gave a small smile that conveyed the nervousness that she was feeling. As Aito listened he felt his heart break, because Ayroka was an orphan she had never had family to cheer her on in gymnastics. Sure she had Koichi and Aito but there would always be a difference between a coach and a father and even though they sometimes tried to pretend like their wasn't the divide would always be there.

The night before the competition Ayroka set out the leotard that she would be wearing, a deep red one that had random swirls of sapphire blue and green on it. She had to set out her makeup as well since she would be getting up early so that she could arrive on time to the competition and still have enough time to warm up. Staring up at the ceiling before she went to bed she couldn't stop the excitement from making her limbs tremble, tomorrow was going to be an exciting day.

The next day when her alarm went off she quickly jumped out of bed almost falling in the process and began to get ready. The faster she got ready the more time that she would have to warm up and mentally prepare herself, she wanted to be at her best for the meet because her friends were going to be looking on.

After she had arrived and warmed up she was sitting on her chair visualizing her routines when she felt someone sit next to her. Angrily she opened her eyes, both Koichi and Aito knew not to disturb her when she was preparing to compete but when she looked to see who it was Aito didn't say anything he just pointed to one of the top stands where to her utter delight she saw all of the regulars sitting there waving. She gave a small wave back and then closed her eyes and went back to focusing.

Her first rotation out of the four was on the beam, after she saluted a sense of calm surrounded her and she went into her private bubble. Her mount on to the beam was relatively simple it just consisted of her jumping up, there was no sense with her having a balance check on the mount when she had lots of difficulty in the rest of her routine. The rest of the routine was as solid as she had ever performed it. One of her hardest connections was connecting her Arabian (a back flip with a half twist) to a back handspring which she was able to do easily. Getting ready for her dismount she heard the ding of the bell signifying that she had ten second to get off the beam and she took off. She did a round off and felt two feet hit the beam propelling herself off the beam to twist three times and hit the ground. Getting a triple twist all the way around was hard enough but sticking it was even tougher and somehow she had managed to do both.

She walked off the mat with the beam after she had saluted the judges, inside she was doing a big celebratory dance but on the outside she was completely calm and collected. There was no point in going ballistic over one hit routine when she had three more chances to have it all go completely wrong. Her next event was vault and so she had to completely focus so that no mistakes would occur. The one thing that she did not want to happen was to make a mistake in front of her friends and peers. Because to make a mistake in front of the gymnastics crowd is like drawing blood in front of a crowd of sharks once they smell the blood they will go in for the kill.

Christina who was in the same rotation as her was going right before her on the vault and so she had to sit and watch as she performed a perfectly executed double twisting yurchenko (DTY). She politely clapped for her and then climbed the steps up to the podium to get ready for her vault; even though she was vaulting the same vault she knew that she would probably get a lower score than Christina. She was smaller than her and so she could not get the same push of the block.

She lined herself up with the runway and then let her mind wander back to how she vaulted in practice and began to run. When she landed she was a little over rotated and had to take a step back but she let out a sigh of relief that she was finally finished with this event and the second rotation.

The rest of the meet went well; Ayroka only had a small mistake on her floor exercise during a spin which she fell out off. But overall she was as close to perfection that she could manage. As expected she finished on top by a large margin, Christina had fallen on a release move on the uneven bars, which took her out of contention for first place. Standing on top of the podium wasn't as exciting for Ayroka; she had been in bigger meets but because she was able to show her friends the art form that she loved made standing on top of the podium just a little bit more special than it normally would be.

When she had finished changing she walked out into the lobby of the arena where the meet was held. "Ayroka that was amazing! All the flips and twists that you and the other gymnasts can do are awesome!" She was tackled almost immediately by Eiji who was yelling in her ear about how amazed he was.

"HA thanks Eiji, I really appreciate all of you guys coming and supporting me it really means a lot to me. I hope you guys weren't too bored, meets are more exciting when there is more of a challenge." She flashed a smile and then started to go around and hug and talk with them.

Stopping in front of Fuji she gave him an extra big hug. "Well you got your wish you saw me compete I hope I didn't disappoint… maybe I should teach you some more skills other than the back flip." He gave a laugh and enveloped her in another hug.

"Ayroka that was one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen, I know that I watched some video footage of your competitions online but to see you compete is amazing. I didn't realize how amazing gymnastics was until I saw this competition; I would be honored to learn this sport from you."

"Fuji you're so serious, I don't think I've ever seen this side of you, I'll start teaching you and anyone else who is interested next week. We can go to the gym after tennis practice; it won't be hard practices just learning some of the fundamentals of gymnastics." She opened the conversation to all the regulars, they were sharing their sport with her and she wanted to share gymnastics with them. She saw some heads begin to nod with approval and she was filled with a sense of relief for a moment she was under the impression that they would refuse.

"It has been said that cross training is good for the body and the mind by giving it a break from the stress of the individuals sport. Even though this is not the typical sport to cross train with I think that it will let us have fun while still working out and maybe some of us can develop some new skills for the tennis court." Tezuka took the moment to speak out on his thoughts and the few that had not said anything to her idea then began to nod their heads and look convinced. They knew and liked Ayroka but they still looked to Tezuka their captain to guide them. Seeing Aito and Koichi walk out of the doors of the gym she waved them over, she wanted them to meet the tennis regulars since she talked so much about them.

It was an awkward start since Aito made a joke about how tennis players have one wrist that is usually bigger than the other. The regulars stood there not knowing how to respond until Ryoma who had been eerily quiet the whole time broke out into laughter.

"Well Aito I'm sure that with that one large wrist that they have they could beat you in arm wrestling 9 out of ten times." Ayroka leapt to the defense of her friends and was awarded with a smile from Momo. "Aito since you have been quite rude to my friends why don't you treat us all to dinner." He nodded his head glad that Ayroka wasn't going to give him a harsher punishment.

The dinner was uneventful it just consisted of the regulars explaining how tennis works to Aito and Koichi and chastising Ayroka on how little she consumed. Looking back at the month that she had known the regulars Ayroka realized this was reminiscent of their first lunch together when Eiji told her that eating that little was unhealthy. Ayroka remembered how the first time she had been just a little bit annoyed that someone could tell her to eat more when they didn't known her but now as she heard them tell her to eat more she realized that it was their way of expressing that they were a family and that they cared about her.

AN: Sorry for the late update I got distracted by the Olympics, but it's the longest entry yet! This story does not have a beta yet so there will probably be grammatical mistakes that I did not pick up on. Thanks for reading:D


	6. Chapter 6

Summary: Ayroka a world class gymnast has lost her fire to win; her coaches think that Seigaku, and especially the tennis team has the power to instill that fire back into Ayroka. AU, and maybe a little romance.

Chapter 6

Ayroka was sitting on the bleachers watching the tennis practice finish, after the gymnastics competition and their agreement the Seigaku tennis regulars had been coming to her gym twice a week to work out. Today was Thursday and so right after practice they were going to head over to the gym. Today was the day where she had planned that she would show the regulars how to move gracefully by having them do ballet. In her mind after watching their matches she had noticed that they were not making full use of their body and so she was hoping that she would be able to help fix that. Of course she wasn't a coach or completely knowledgeable of what a tennis player needed but Ayroka was determined to help the team as best as she could.

Once the practice ended she was out of her seat picking up balls and putting them into the carts to be used tomorrow. Once she and the other first years were finished and had cleaned up the courts she went out to where the water fountains were and waited for the regulars to finish changing and join her. Looking up at the sky she reflected on how put together her life seemed at the moment she did not have another big competition for another few months and she had what seemed like all the time in the world to perfect the skills that she was working on, she also had a bunch of really good friends that made her focus on more than gymnastics. Overall she was very pleased with her life at the moment.

"Ayroka, where ready to go!" Looking down she saw all nine of the regulars coming toward her with their tennis bags on their backs. "Do you need to grab anything else from the academic building we have time before the bus comes.

"No I have everything right here," patting her book bag and gym bag. She started to walk when she felt a hand grab onto her book bag. "What is it am I forgetting something?"

"Nope, here give me your bags I didn't bring any bags with me so I can carry them for you." Fuji held out his hand for her bags. Reluctantly she handed them to him, she didn't want Fuji to feel obligated to carry her bags or do things for her. Almost immediately she felt the tension in her shoulders relax and she gave a sigh.

"Thank you Fuji I really appreciate your offer, I didn't realize that my shoulders were hurting. How do you always know the right things to do?" She nudged him with her shoulder and then gave him a half hug. The others who were looking on had smiles on their face, (except for Tezuka who always looks stoic) even though neither Fuji nor Ayroka had noticed it yet to them it was apparent to the others the chemistry that they had together.

They rode the bus over to the gym and changed into workout clothes. Ayroka went into the girl's locker room to change into her workout clothes so that she would not get her uniform dirty. When she finally came out she stood there watching the boys run around the gym playing a weird mismatch of tag and wrestling. Everyone including Tezuka had been pulled into the game, and they all seemed to be having lots of fun. Smiling she clapped her hands and drew their attention.

"Okay I was planning on having you work on some dance moves to improve you flexibility and balance but it looks like you are having fun just playing around. We can do the dance another day and you guys can take today to unwind if you want."

"I personally think that sounds awesome, do you think we can play around on some of the equipment as well?"

"Sure I don't think there is a problem with you playing on the equipment if I'm here just let me run and ask Aito, since I don't want to break his trust." She jogged off to find Aito, she eventually found him in his office working on paperwork for mothers who wanted their children enrolled at the gym. It took him a moment to give her a response to the question, but he gave the okay just as long as only one was on the equipment at a time and she was spotting them. She thanked him and then went back to the gym to tell them the good news.

They decided the best event that they all wanted to start on was the beam; the first person on the beam was Momo. He walked up and down the beam with Ayroka on the side holding his hand when he needed it; he also was able to do a few spins on the beam.

She spotted all of them as they walked along the beam and gave them pointers to help them balance, and walk more comfortably. They did not try vault of floor since those were not events that you could just get up and try but they did swing around on bars.

When they had finished playing around on the events they decided to sit in the middle and share different stories of their childhood. As Ayroka listened she couldn't help but feel sad her childhood in comparison to everyone else's seemed almost like a horror story. Her dad and died and her mother had given her away. The only good thing about her childhood had been when one of the orphanage matrons had seen her swinging on a tree at three years old and had decided that she looked like a gymnast. From there she had been enrolled in an awful gym where she had cried almost every day, before Aito had seen her at a meet and had decided that since she had so much talent he would coach her himself. Remembering those days made her shiver a little; even if someone would offer her a ton of money she would not want to relieve them. She was shaken out of her musings when she realized that everyone had already finished relieving memories and were waiting for her to talk.

"Umm I grew up in an orphanage, and started gymnastics when I was three, and then at five I met Aito and Koichi, and"

"No, no, no, not your whole life story just a memory that you are really fond of." Inui who was furiously writing in his book stopped her before she could continue.

"Umm I guess my best memory from childhood would have to be when I first learned how to do giants (swinging around the bars on straight arms) on the bars."

"Do you have any childhood memories that don't involve gymnastics?"

"Uhhh those are the only good memories that I can think of right now." She realized that everyone else had talked about birthdays or having fun with siblings, and all she could talk about was gymnastics. "Gymnastics is my good memory, just like all of you with tennis gymnastics is my life, just the difference between us is that you also have good memories outside of tennis where as all I can remember is the orphanage." She blinked twice and then realized that she had just gone off on her friends for absolutely no reason. "I am so sorry I don't know what came over me, it's probably because I'm tired, I should go home I can give one of you the keys so that all of you can shower and then the last one can lock up." She fled out of the building her mind still going on over time over what just happened, she couldn't believe that she would divulge that much of her personal life, sure they were friends but she would not even talk about her past with Aito or Koichi.

When the bus dropped her off at the corner of the block where her apartment was she immediately went inside not even stopping to say hi to the old lady that is always sitting outside on her porch. Not stopping to shower she threw herself on the bed and attempted to burrow her head into her pillow. She hated it when others looked at her like she was weak and tonight when she had opened her big mouth she had felt that way. She turned over onto her back and glared up at the stars that she had hung on the ceiling when she was seven. She had always known that her life was not normal but until she had heard her friends talk about their childhoods she had not fully grasped how different it was.

When she was younger and still in the orphanage, at night she used to close her eyes. Pretending her mom and dad would show up and tell her that it was all just an elaborate hoax that they made up to scare her and that she could come home. Tonight she found herself squeezing her eyes shut and wishing to God that she had a different childhood, one with a nice mommy and daddy, and siblings that she could fight with. As she was thinking one of the books dropped from her bookshelf, her eyes popped open, and the dream was gone.

**Back at the gym**Back at the gym**Back at the gym**Back at the gym**Back at the gym**Back at the gym**Back at the gym**Back at the gym**

They were all sitting in the circle as they heard the doors to the gym slam shut signaling that Ayroka had left. "Why do you think Ayroka got really flustered when she started to talk about her childhood?" Eiji who had begun to see Ayroka as the little sister that he had never had asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"There's a 99% chance that her childhood memories are not pleasant and so talking about them is painful."

"Thank you Inui for pointing out the obvious, now the real question is how do we help her?" Momo had also developed a special bond with Ayroka after she had started helping him with his math homework.

"Well I have an idea and it might not be the best since we are so close to the Kanto tournament but why don't we take off tomorrow and go do something fun. If Ayroka doesn't have any childhood memories that don't have anything to do with gymnastics then why don't we make her a few good memories?" Kaido's announcement was met with complete silence. It was not that they thought that his idea was bad it was just that they were in complete shock over the fact that he had actually said something without a hiss and longer than 5 syllables.

"Uhhh wow Kaido that is a really good idea, so everyone in favor of doing something fun tomorrow instead of practice raise your hand." The vote was unanimous and so it was official the tennis regulars and their manager were going to take a field trip tomorrow.

**The next day** The next day** The next day** The next day** The next day** The next day** The next day** The next day** The next day** The next day** The next day **

Today was just not going well since last night her mind had been completely unfocused. Today she kept on messing up a turn on the balance beam that she had been able to do since she was ten. Aito slammed his hands down on a beam next to the one that she was working on.

"Okay, STOP, I can tell that something is making you unfocused, and so I am going to give you a five minute water break so that you can focus. I no scratch that WE do not have the time to start regressing in skills. In your next few meets you have to start showing to the committee that you are getting into shape for worlds, even if you are the world champion they can still leave you of off the team." She could see that he was exasperated by the way that he walked away with a very straight back that looked like he had a stick stuck up his butt.

She sat down on the beam and swung her feet back and forth. She did not want to get a drink because she knew that if she did she would most likely get a cramp. Taking a deep breath she began to mentally clear out all of the unnecessary thoughts that were making her lose focus. Over the years she had become very adept at this process. When she finally opened her eyes she saw Aito standing in front of her playing on his phone.

"Do you think you are ready now?"

"Yes, let's get this party on the road!" The rest of the workout went well, she was able to do a full beam routine without a lot of noticeable mistakes, and Aito was happy with the progress that she had made on floor with being expressive. The only real setback was on bars where she was trying to do a new dismount and because her timing was off she repeatedly landed on her knees, or on her back. But in general she was pretty proud of herself and her ability to focus past the distractions. Now all she had to do was get through school and tennis practice and then she could go home and just go to sleep and forget about everything.

She arrived at school a little bit late due to the fact that neither Aito nor Koichi could take her, and had to hurry to her first class. Her first three classes flew by and it seemed like all of a sudden it was time for lunch. Ayroka had absolutely no interest in facing the tennis team today so she went up to the roof and lay down. In her mind it didn't matter if she missed lunch, missing one meal wouldn't hurt her training regimen that much. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

The warning bell woke her up with a start, and she hurriedly picked up her book bag and ran down the stairs to get to her first afternoon class. The day was almost done and she couldn't help but celebrate only a few more hours and then she could leave. That thought made it possible for her to get thru the rest of her classes without her bursting into tears of utter exhaustion.

She walked out to the tennis courts a little bit late hoping that no one would mention the incident yesterday and was surprised to find no one there. She stood there for a few seconds thinking and then ran to the team room, hoping that she had not forgotten about a mandatory meeting. As she was running she collided into Ryoma who was walking in the opposite direction.

"Oh Ayroka we were looking for you at lunch where were you? Well never mind that don't answer it doesn't matter, what does matter is that the team decided to take off practice today and go to a fair that is going through the city today. So put your bags back into your locker and then we can both go and meet them at the front of the school."

"Wait Ryoma you can't just tell me that we are going to a fair and expect me to drop everything and go."

"Well you would have watched our practice and then gone home so we thought that instead of doing that we could all go and have fun at the fair. You're not mad right?"

She took a moment to think about it and then nodded. "No I'm not mad; you just took me by surprise. And you know what it will be fun to go to my first fair with you guys. We can just go and meet them at the front of the school now; I don't want to put my bags back into the locker because I don't want to come back and have to get my stuff."

"Good I'm glad you're on board because even if you said no we were still going to make you come." He grabbed her hand and started to pull her towards the gates where everyone was waiting.

They took public transportation over to the fair, and when they arrived Ayroka was greeted with so many different sights and sounds that it overwhelmed her. "Oh my…wow, just look at all the different vendors lined up on the street, look at those people in costumes, and look at all the games that they have! We've got to do and try all of this." She went running off dragging her two best friends Ryoma and Fuji behind her.

"It's like setting a child down in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory and watching it go wild, really quite entertaining to watch." Oishi pointed out the comparison that had been on everyone's mind as they watched Ayroka go from vendor to vendor.

"Well let's have fun too I want try to eat the meter long hot dog if I do then I can get a bear! Come on Oishi it won't eat its self." They all parted ways intent on having a really good time, and making a few memories.

Ayroka pulled both Ryoma and Fuji over to the mini Ferris wheel. "Look how high this ride goes, we have to ride this, it looks like sooo much fun." The line was filled with couples trying to have a romantic ride in the Ferris wheel; and for the first time Fuji felt himself become jealous. He wished that Ryoma was somewhere else because then the ride would be more romantic than just a ride with friends, but if going on the Ferris wheel with both of them made Ayroka happy then he would do it.

The Ferris wheel was even more rickety than expected but Ayroka threw up her hands and let out a whoop. Ryoma scoffed at her amazement. "It's obvious that we will have to take you to a real amusement park because if you think this ride is fun then I'm seriously going to have to question your judgment." Fuji who was sitting across from him couldn't help but give him an icy stare. Ryoma gave him a blank look back and then a smirk lit up his face and he quickly looked away.

Ayroka who was completely oblivious to everything that was happening around her was intently staring out the window and pointing out the different sites that she could see from the cart.

When the ride was over both Ryoma and Fuji wanted to get buy food to hold them over until they got home; and so they went on a quest to find the best tasting snack at the fair. After both Ryoma and Fuji (He really didn't want to but Ayroka asked him to) tried various different snacks such as Korokke, Takoyaki, Nikuman, Taiyaki, Ōbanyaki,Yakitori. All of them were good but they both had to agree that the Korokke from one of the vendors was the best. After determining that it was the best they both ganged up on Ayroka and made her eat it.

After the first bite after miming throwing up she eagerly scoffed it down; she was usually very conscious of what she was eating but today she threw caution to the wind and ate the fried food. A little bit after eating the Korokke she could feel her stomach beginning to rebel but she refused to ruin the night by throwing up and so she sucked it up and continued to run around and have fun. At around 7:45 they began to walk over to the designated meeting area where they would watch the fireworks. Ayroka was on Fuji's back and was being carried piggy back style, when she saw Christina. Instantly she was in gymnastics mode, and swiftly climbed down Fuji's back.

"Hello Christina, fancy seeing you here, if I didn't know better than I would assume that you were stalking me." Something about seeing Christina here when she was finally enjoying herself rubbed her the wrong way.

"Ha in your dreams Ayroka, my father, wait you do know what that is right? He took me here because it's not every day that a fair comes through the city."

"Well I'm glad to see that you haven't stooped so low that you would resort to stalking me."Christina turned and was about to walk away when Ayroka reached out and grabbed her hand. "Wait Christina, look I'm sorry just I thought that you had come to this fair to try and ruin my night, so I'm sorry for accusing you of stalking me." She held out her hand to shake, Christina gave a nod and shook her hand.

"Well this meeting was quite unpleasant so I'm going to cut it short and go and burn my hand."

Ayroka gave a laugh as Christina walked away and turned to Ryoma and Fuji. "That is Christina the second best gymnast in Japan and just one of my biggest competitors, but I may be just a little biased."

It was around eight o'clock when they all gathered back together so that they could all sit together and watch the fireworks.

They were waiting for the firework show to begin when Tezuka who had been quiet the whole night spoke. "I was sort of worried about missing practice today since we are so close to the Kanto tournament but tonight made missing practice well worth it."

"Oh I also wanted to thank all of you in thinking about me and putting together this trip; you have no idea how much fun I had. And I know that I think about all of you as my really loud sometimes obnoxious brothers but tonight you really showed that, so thanks." She punched Kaido in the arm and laughed as he hissed and then put his arm around her and gave her a one armed hug. "You know, now that we are family you're not getting rid of me, all of you are in for the long haul, and I'm going to be there and cheering you on every step of the way."

AN. Okay this took me a really long time to write, and I know its not as long as the last one but it's something. If you find any mistakes tell me.


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